The ABC of Advaitam

(ABC: Advaitam is Brahman Consciousness)

Dr. M. Sathya Prasad    December 25, 2021

Advaitam  is a state of non-duality. It is a state of abidance where there is no distinction between the seer and the seen. Everything including oneself is recognized as wholesome. There is neither division nor fragmentation. Advaitam is not an experience since experience involves the person who experiences something and the something that qualifies itself to be experienced. The subject is not part of the whole, but the subject itself is the whole. So there is neither a subject nor an object. Advaitam is wholesomeness. Complete adequacy. Self-contained. It is a placebo-free state. No props or crutches. Stands fully on its own legs. This is explained by the following sloka:

OM pUrNamadaH pUrNamidaM pUrNAt pUrNamudachyate |

pUrNasya pUrNamAdAya pUrNamevAvashiShyate||

Om shanti shanti shantih

-Jabalopanishad

OM PURNA MADAH PURNA MIDAM - That is the whole, this is the whole;

PURNAAT PURNA MUDACHYATE - From the whole, the whole arises;

PURNASYA PURNAMADAYA - Taking away the whole from the whole,

PURNAM EVA VASISHYATE - The whole remains.

OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI - May there be three kinds of peace from the three kinds of harm - self-inflicted, circumstantial, and deliberate actions of others.

Advaitam is the residue that is leftover after relentless self-inquiry. Advaitam happens. Progressive annihilation of ignorance results in a residue that cannot be annihilated. Neti-Neti. That is Advaitam. Our true nature, which is our self, untainted, becomes apparent to itself. 

Advaitam is a state of being uninfluenced and in perfect abidance. Self, abiding in itself.

Advaitam is not congregational. It is our painful and lonely pursuit to do something about "nothing" since that "nothing" appears to us as everything. If you retort, "nothing doing", understand that Maya is "nothing's doing". Brahman appears as nothing but is everything. Maya appears as everything but is nothing.

Self-realization is to stay in a state where everything is nothing (Maya) and nothing is everything (Brahman).

The salt doll has a form. It aspires to measure the ocean’s depth. The former is Jivatma. The latter is Paramatma. This is the meaning of the sloka, "om poornamadaf, poornamidam...". The salt doll loses its identity or form to the formless ocean. The salt doll has taken the plunge and has nothing left to realize. It is.

Hamsa Soham!

Now imagine several salt dolls taking a plunge into the ocean. The individual differences exist only before taking the plunge. After the plunge, it is all the same. This is the essence of spirituality and oneness. Religion is congregational. Spirituality is to be aloof. That is the difference.

Advaitam stems from the wisdom to recognize that we are mere salt dolls, realize the limitlessness of the formless ocean, and dare to lose our identity by taking a plunge.

Aloofness in spirituality is the process of getting ready to take the plunge. This is sadhana that comes out of vairagya and abyasa. Sadana is to remove the chatter of thoughts and remain silent and remain in silence. We are not our thoughts. Aloofness precedes acceptance. Sadana precedes sanyasa. Sadana is to be aloof. Sanyasa is one of total acceptance.

The salt dolls outside are busy protecting their identity and distinction. This is called Loka vichaaram or vyavahaaram. The salt doll on the path towards realization, to start with, at least intellectually understands that there is little difference between it and the ocean. This intellectual reasoning is called "Atma vichaaram".

Realization is a one-way path. A realized one becoming a salt doll again is called an "Avatara Purusha".

There is neither a thinker nor a thought. There is neither a seer nor the seen. There is neither a subject nor an object. It is not intellectual. It is not an experience since experience can be explained with intellect. It is abidance. It cannot be explained since explanations involve intellect.

What is Atma vichaaraa or self-inquiry? It is our intellect self-destructing itself by rational reasoning by itself on itself.

Intellect is essential and Maya is also essential for both to slowly fade away to oblivion. Intellect is essential to the point of self-annihilation. The thorn of knowledge should be used to remove the thorn of ignorance. Thereafter there is no use for knowledge. Sat Chit Anandam.

Dwaita = “good Maya”. 

VisishtAdvaitam  = “Maya as a temporary placeholder”.

Advaitam  = “no Maya”.

Maya is indispensable in Dwaitam - Jivatma and Paramatma are distinct. Maya has a big role to play. Severe achaara anushtaanams. Dualism

Maya would eventually be dismissed in Visishtadvaitam  - Jivatma is a part of Paramatma. Maya has some role to play. Qualified monism.

Maya has no role to play in Advaitam  - no distinction such as Jivatma and Paramatma. Sarvam Brahmam. Non-dualism

Subject and object are distinct and separate. Dwaitam

Subject and object are distinct but not separate. Visishtadvaitam

Subject equals object. Advaitam

Dwaitam=Prema.

Visishtadvaitam=Bhakti.

Advaitam=Jnanam

Dwaitam - Bhagavatham. 

Visishtadvaitam - Vishnu sahasranamam. 

Advaitam - Vedanta / Upanishads

All three – Veda and Bhagavad Gita

Dwaitam – Shri Madhvacharya

Visishtadvaitam – Shri Ramanujacharya

Advaitam – Shri Adi Shankaracharya

There is no difference in the above three schools as far as the Paramathma is concerned. The destination is the same. Ekam Sat (truth is one). Where these differ is in the positioning of the jivathma. Such positioning facilitates straddling our Sanathana Dharma across a wide gamut of requirements, flexing across the strict religious injunctions and diktats demanded by Dwaitam on one extreme, all the way to the exemplary autonomy granted by Advaitam on the other. 

Dwaitam preserves our Sanathana Dharma from the predatory, parasitic, stunted, myopic, violent, claustrophobic, crooked, cunning, fanatic, narrow-minded, destructive, fundamental, conversion-centric, foreign-funded, “my way or the highway kind of” imported, anti-Hindu infestations of non-Indic foreign forces and religions, only by passively and peacefully resorting to dharmic faith, prayers, rites, and rituals, through a plethora of Gods. Dwaitam allows us to take our pick and unconditionally surrender to our “ishta devatha” or chosen deity. On the other hand, Advaitam unleashes an earnest aspirant to the highest potential for self-development, and self-realization thereof, through relentless and rational questioning, thereby recognizing, and if need be, dispensing the need for a personal deity. But for Dwaitam, India would have been reduced long ago to a land of total foreign infestation and complete obliteration of Sanathana Dharma. If our dharma has managed to survive despite so many conversions and so rampant destruction of our temples by marauding invaders, it is only because of Dwaitam.

Dwaitam inculcates discipline without question. Advaitam outgrows the very discipline by encouraging rational investigation. Dwaitam prescribes. Advaitam discerns. Dwaitam is due to societal compulsion and is intended to preserve our dharma.  Advaitam, thus protected by Dwaitam, offers an ecosystem to produce, albeit a very few numbers of, masters or perfects (kaschid dheerah, Katopanishad). 

Dwaitam binds an aspirant into a disciplined path that assures spiritual progress through faithful acceptance of our religion, and obeisance to one or more personal Gods. Advaitam liberates a seer towards self-discovery by outgrowing religion where divinity within oneself is tantamount to those ascribed to God. 

Dwaitam takes charge of our spiritual progress. Advaitam leaves us to our own wits.

Dwaitam is a synonym for unadulterated and pure Bhakti, and is the bedrock on which our Sanathana Dharma stands. Dwaitam from the standpoint of duality is Me and My God. That distinction distances God from the devotee and creates a longing for a relationship with that distant God. Visishtadvaitam reckons that everything is God and we are a rightful part of that divine with potential for perfection. All that is left would be to connect with that divine by domesticating Maya. God comes even closer to me. Advaitam is a non-duality that sees oneness. God is within me and all I need to do is to eradicate Maya.

Our Sanathana Dharma is bounded by Dwaitam and Advaitham, thus catering perfectly to a wide variety of goals, temperaments, and circumstances of aspirants. Spiritual progress is possible for all. All rivers lead to the ocean.

All three are very potent and have grey distinctions to most. Experiencing these three schools therefore far outweighs any intellectual reasoning.

The fact that I have blissfully written the above is clear evidence of how far removed I am from Advaitam! Realization is bliss, but so too is ignorance. Let me shamelessly concede my blissful ignorance.